Childhood's End
by ghost of mog
Summary: AU Season 3- Peter Parker has arrived in Smallville just as strange things are happening to the mutants and their families. Clark will have to work with Peter to discover the secret about the mutants, and his origins. Slash
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: All fictional characters and places are property of their respective owners, not mine.

Warnings: Slash, language, and violence.

AU, set at beginning of season 3

* * *

**Childhood's End**

**Prologue**

"It's confirmed, sir." A middle aged man in a white coat addressed his superior with a subtle sense of accomplishment. "All the markers were there, every single one. It's almost unbelievable." 

"Not unbelievable doctor, just very unexpected." The doctor's superior looked over the report in question with a sombre appearance to the point of foreboding. "Are you absolutely certain doctor? There can be no room for error in a situation like this."

"I'm certain sir. We re-did each test over a dozen times with different samples and different technicians, re-checked by other personnel and then re-checked and re-tested personally by myself. There has been no error."

His superior gave him a sharp look which seemed to analyze every cell of the scientist looking for a possible deception or ulterior motive, a healthy paranoia that came naturally to him. A trained observer would have recognized it as similar to the leer of a predator stalking a herd of unsuspecting gazelles in the wild. "Tell me doctor, how many of the people assigned to this project were aware of what they were testing for?"

"Well... I was the only one who knew the actual purpose of the investigation, the other technicians were just working by comparing given samples." His superior nodded as if in appreciation as he reabsorbed himself in the report he held in his hand. Slowly walking back behind his desk the man continued to graze over the paper as if in deep thought while he returned to his seat.

"And have you given the news to any of our 'associates' higher-up?" Asking casually as his eyes left the paper to return to the subordinate in front of him, the scientist did not notice his superior opening a drawer in his desk.

"No sir, you're the only one that knows so far. I only finished confirming the results a few minutes ago, I wanted to be sure... like you said, no room for errors."

"Yes, yes... thank you doctor." His superior kept a cold eye-contact with him as he produced a large black pistol equipped with a silencer and shoot the scientist three times in the chest. He placed the weapon back upon the desk, on top of the lab report and slowly removed himself from his chair to inspect the body. He knelt down beside his victim and cocked his head to one side with a small sigh. "I'm sorry doctor, I really am."

Standing up again, he approached his desk and reached for the phone, casually dialing up a series of numbers like he would do countless times each day before waiting for the expected voice on the other end of the line. "This is Lionel Luthor, I need you at my office now, there is something you need to clean up. Also there is a little accident a I need you to arrange at one of my labs for me... yes... yes I'll give you all the necessary details once you arrive, I trust won't have to explain to you the usual level of 'discretion' required... good. I expect to see you in a few minutes." He returned the phone back to its previous position before walking behind his desk to procure another object from the same drawer where he removed the gun. Taking the object in hand, Mr Luthor took the lab report from his desk held at arms length before producing the lighter he had removed from his desk drawer and lit the report over his metal waste bin.

Watching the report slowly burn into thin cracked strips of charcoal, he continued to leer at the revelatory document with a stony sense of dread. "You owe me Mr Kent... more than you could possibly understand."


	2. Chapter 1: A New Life

**Childhood's End**

**Chapter 1: A New Life**

----- -----

May Parker had been busying herself in the garden most of the day, trying to bring some kind of order to a rosebush that had obviously been left to its own devices for some years now. She looked back at her new home ...old home really. Its last tenant was a widow not much older than herself that had moved in here since she was forced to sell her family's farm to support herself. She was only the second tenant that the house had since May had inherited it and she had stayed here for many years but apparently she was not in the best condition to maintain it properly in the years before she died. The house needed a lot of work: the garden was a mess, the paint was stripping, and the wood on the front deck had quite a bit of damage. Luckily Peter had a couple of days before he had to start school. May gathered up the debris from the bush that she had been trimming, being careful not to prick herself on the thorns, and carried them towards the waste heap that Peter had made out of the weeds and grass clippings he had collected today before returning to the house. 

May washed herself off in the kitchen sink while looking out the window facing the west side of the house, looking at her nephew laboring in the yard. The small teen was desperately trying to reduce a sparse, overgrown lawn of green and gold waves of grass, some of which reached his waist, with a second-hand, fifteen year-old lawnmower. May turned toward the refrigerator in order to make him something to drink with a slight sense of guilt. She knew it was a selfish thing for her to do, and it had been a lot to ask of a teenager. Peter had objected at first, but he couldn't argue with her. He had hated her a little for that, but unknown to her, he hated himself more. The idea of moving so far away would scare the hell out of him on a normal day, but to pull up root and plant it in the Midwest right after his Uncle Ben died just seemed to pour salt on an open wound. So he followed her, as if he had a choice. He knew she was his responsibility now; there was no one else now... just the two of them. That's probably why she needed to be here, her childhood home, to at least have something old and familiar, filled with happy memories.

Peter bent down to stop the old machine he was dueling with once he saw his aunt approaching with a very appealing glass of lemonade. Too out of breath to form words from the English language he simply nodded his thanks to his aunt before gulping the beverage down with a desperate haste.

"Perhaps you should take a break? You don't want to pass out." May joked, but with some genuine concern.

"I can't leave it half done, what would the neighbors think?" Peter gasped out with a slight smile, once he had finished draining the glass in his hand.

"This is Kansas dear not the suburbs, the neighbors are far enough away not to care what the yard looks like." Peter acknowledged her advice but ignored it at the same time by taking the opportunity to clear out the underside of the lawnmower of all the wet grass that had been clogged up. May tried not to notice that he had shutdown once again when she tried to relax the mood a little. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately, it was no longer like talking to the boy she knew two months ago.

"I'll need to go into town later and get some supplies to fix the paintwork. Do you want to keep the old color or go with something else?" Peter inquired as he continued with his task, not even looking back at his aunt.

"You don't have to do that today, dear. I was going to drive into town tomorrow to get some groceries anyway."

"No, I want to at least get some of the work started today, once I'm finished with this." When he finished explaining his plans he got up, returned the mower upright and turned back to his aunt. "Besides I gonna have to get familiar with this place right?" Aunt may gave a small smile in agreement. She did agree with him but even if she hadn't somehow she didn't feel as if she had the right to argue with him.

"Why don't you pick something a little brighter, when I was a girl they usually painted houses like this yellow and white or something along those lines."

"Sounds good. I'll go look for a hardware store when I'm done. There's usually one in the center of farm towns isn't there?"

"Usually yes." May gave a reserved sound of amusement and watched Peter return to his task without much else. She was concerned about his behavior but at the same time unsure at how to deal with it. She couldn't tell whether his distance was the result of grief over his uncle or some resentment towards herself for forcing such a drastic change in his life, or perhaps something else. It seemed like a good idea to give him his space but the more space she seems to give him, the more space he seems to give her. She did not want the boy she raised and loved as her own to drift so far away. Truth be told, a part of her was just afraid of being alone.

----- -----

"What the hell is wrong?" Clark stopped at the doorway when he herd the familiar sound of an angry Chloe Sullivan. For a moment he pondered whether or not he could successfully sneak back out of the Torch office without alerting her. Unfortunately, his quandary was brought to a halt when she looked up from her workstation to see her friend stranding underneath the door frame with slight look of fear in his eyes. "Clark! Have you been screwing with my computer?" Clark was taken back for a moment by her tone―whatever was going on, she was not a happy camper. "Chloe, I would never make the mistake of so much as touching your computer. Why? What's happened?" He asked quietly as he moved towards her computer to investigate the problem. 

"It's... ugh.. This doesn't make any sense!" The young woman exclaimed as she kept pounding the keyboard of the offending machine in hopes of producing a positive reaction. It didn't seem to work. "Nothing's working! Whenever I try to open anything it freezes or crashes or just brings up gibberish... aagh... God damn it! All my work is on this thing!" Giving up on trying to negotiate with a broken machine the blond teenager breathes a heavy sigh before resting her her in her hands.

"Here, why don't you give me a look?" Clark gestured for his friend to make room for him in front of her workstation.

"I'm telling you, unless you've become a computer genius or some kind of intuitive android overnight, I don't think there's much you can do." She spoke with a heavy amount of tired frustration while taking the opportunity to lean back in her chair and stare at the ceiling. "Is there?"

Clark did his best to try and get a response from the machine only to get a very scary looking blue screen. "No... I don't think there is... sorry." Clark stood up with a look on his face that was half regret and half fear of his friend's frustrations. "I don't suppose you made back ups?"

"Of course I made back ups, of some things anyway. There were some things that I had only started to work on, not to mention some other random crap that I just never bothered to organize properly... And now its gone. God I hate machinery!" Chloe breathed out a heavy sigh and got up from her chair, consoling herself with the fact that at the very least there was the possibility of getting a brand new computer from the school. "I'm gonna have to go home and get some of the back ups on my computer at home and bring them back here if I want any chance of getting the next issue out by tomorrow."

"Hey people!" A cheerfully familiar voice interrupted the maudlin mood within the office. "Chloe, I hope you appreciated my interview with the new assistant principal I emailed to you last night. I had to pour on all the Pete Ross charm the get anything out of that guy." The final member of the trio's enthusiasm brought a slight sense of hope to their extremely irritated editor.

"Pete, I'm sure it was an outstanding piece of journalistic excellence, unfortunately however, my computer just decided to have a nervous breakdown. Did you send it to my personal email account?"

"Yeah," Pete responded, slightly disappointed that she had not been able to read a piece of work he had hoped to impress her with, "I've got a copy with me if you need it."

"No... that's okay Pete. I'll download it at home when I get the rest of the back ups. I just hope I have enough time to get there and back before science this afternoon. I have a feeling that asshole is planning a pop quiz." Chloe gave a slight smile to her friends as she made her way to the school hallway, Pete giving her a small sense of hope for her newspaper. "Try and make sure nothing else has a nervous breakdown while I'm gone. And see if you can get one of the tech heads from the science club or the chess club or one of those nerd hubs to see what went wrong with that thing."

"Do you think she'll be able to get it printed by the end of the day?" Clark asked Pete, concerned about how Chloe would handle a spot on her flawless journalistic record.

"Well knowing Chloe, anything is possible." Pete looked back at his friend as if realizing for the first time that he was in the room. "What were you doing here anyway? You've been spending as little time as possible alone with Chloe since the... um... What do we call it? ...'Excursion' into Metropolis."

Clark sunk his head down instinctively, which seemed to happen whenever this topic was brought up. There had been a few moments in the last few weeks when he had buried himself enough in work on the farm and at school that he could forget about it. His parents had forgiven him, his friends welcomed him home, but it didn't matter to him. It was physically painful every time a single memory of that would invade his thoughts. He had distanced himself from those around him as a kind of self-inflicted punishment, his parents, his friends, some of them had seen less of him in the last few weeks than they had in the whole time he was missing. There were still days when he could not even look at himself in the mirror. He wasn't sulking; there were things that he needed to work out for himself, decisions he had to make. "I... ah... wanted to see if there was any extra work she needed done for the paper."

"I thought you'd be trying to avoid spending time with Chloe."

"Well yeah... But I'm more interested in avoiding spending time at home."

Pete sighed with genuine sympathy for his friend, "Clark, man, you can't keep doing this to yourself."

"Doing what to myself?" Clark responded, his eyes turned upward to meet his friend's concerned gaze while his head remaining slumped towards the floor.

"Putting yourself in self-induced exile... again." Pete closed the gap between them slightly so he could lower his voice, "People are worried about you."

Clark sighed and returned his gaze to the floor, "There's nothing to worry about. I just need some space, that's all. And, to be honest, I think my parents need it to."

"Clark, they're your Mom and Dad, they love you. They want you with them, your their son."

"Things have changed Pete."

"What things?"

"The world changed. Before I crashed into those caves last year there was still a comfortable air of mystery around me, my 'origins'. I could imagine where I may have come from, why I was here, and I could delude myself with any comfortable fantasy about what I was, they could to. It was nice, to live in a kind of blissful ignorance. But I wasn't happy with that and I went looking for answers. And now that I've got them, there's no way to ignore them. The simple fact is, I know what I am, and I hate it. When they look at me now, they won't see the same person they used to see. I don't won't to see that look in their eyes."

Pete was silent for a moment, unable to think of an appropriate response, afraid that anything he would say would be inadequate, or worse, insensitive. "Clark, I'm not going to pretend to understand what your going through, but if there is one thing I know for sure: your parents love you, whatever you might be. I've grown up with you. I've seen them raise you and take care of you, with everything you've had to deal with in this screwball town, and at no point have they ever stopped caring, or worrying, or loving you. I'm sure when they picked you up that day in the cornfield after you had crawled your way out of your spaceship they realized that eventually they might discover things about you that would be 'different'. If it had been a problem then, they wouldn't have taken you home and fed you."

Clark raised his head to meet his friend's eyes, as if to thank him for his encouragement. Although a part of him believed Pete, a much larger part of him was to afraid of the alternative. "I hope so. I just hope I don't find anything else out about me."

"Your not actually gonna tell me that the intrepid reporter Clark Kent is going to give up on the ultimate Smallville mystery. Man you can't leave anything alone." Pete retorted a little more jovial, in hopes of lightening the mood.

"Some mysteries are better left unsolved."

Pete changed his gaze to slightly perplexed and gave a small sound of half-hearted amusement before turning towards the exit of the office, "Funny, that's just what that weirdo said yesterday."

"What weirdo?" Clark said, trying to encourage his friend's change of subject.

"That new assistant principal Chloe had me interview, that guy gave me the creeps."

"Why? What's wrong with him? He's not another blood-sucking, mutant, changeling, telepath, bent on kidnapping Lana is he?" Clark asked, slightly amused. Although, if he was, it wouldn't exactly surprise him.

"No, I don't think so. Although you never know." Pete laughed before his tone became a little more serious, "It's just half way through the interview he started to do the interrogating. In fact he mainly asked about the Torch, he seemed pretty interested in Chloe's Wall of Weird, from his tone I don't think he liked the idea of her publishing stories about meteor rock related 'incidents'. I think he thought it would be bad publicity or something. Whatever his problem was, he was definitely one of those people that has all the charm and humor of a death adder."

"Well, lets hope he's just a hard ass, and not a psycho."

"Yeah. Hey, I'm gonna head for the Talon this afternoon, do you wanna meet up?"

Clark returned his gaze to the floor, "No...thanks... I've gotta a lot of work to do around the farm."

"Oh come on man, you haven't even been to that place since you got back. It'll be a great chance to catch up with everyone."

Clark quietly shook his head and continued to stare at his feet. "No, really, I can't. Sorry."

Pete cocked his head at his friend, suddenly realizing a possible motive for his resistance. "Are you worried about seeing Lana?" Clark turned his gaze sideways and didn't answer. Pete wondered whether or not he should continue with his inquiry, "Clark... when you were under the influence of the red stuff... did you... 'party around'... if you get my drift."

Clark's eyes returned to his friend with a quizzical look, "What?"

"It's just that... a teenage boy losing all his inhibitions like that in a big city it's not out of the question for him to... mingle," Clark's chest suddenly became very tense with the conversation entering that subject, "and if that's maybe why your not so eager to see Lana, than you should know, you can't really blame yourself. I mean, this isn't exactly a typical situation..."

Clark didn't even want to hear the end of that sentence and headed towards the door, "Pete I gotta go. Sorry."

"Man... wait!" Pete's attempt to communicate was answered only by a familiar sound of rushing air and an empty space where his friend just was.

Clark stopped underneath a large oak on the outer edge of the school's grounds and sat down with his back against the side facing away from the sight of the school. He laid his head back on the bulky trunk and tried to push his conversation with his friend out of his mind, and the memories that came with it. Everything else that happened in Metropolis was bad enough, that particular subject was something he simply wanted to burn out of his memory. The truth is, the red rock didn't relieve him of all his inhibitions, just the ones that in some dark way he didn't want. With all that the red kryptonite could do, it couldn't relieve him of his fears. The few humiliating memories he had of attempted flings made him physically ill with shame. With all that happened, he still hadn't been able to bring himself to touch someone... anyone.

----- -----

"Peter! It's nearly dark and your dinner's ready. Why don't you finish up and come inside?" Peter Parker had finished fixing his aunt's roof nearly an hour ago, but rather than going back in the house, he had settled himself on the newly repaired rooftop to watch the encroaching sunset. 

"I'll be down in a minute." He yelled downwards. In all likelihood he would probably wait outside for another fifteen minutes or so, at least until he was sure she had finished her meal first. Peter wanted to avoid the chances of a serious conversation starting up. He honestly felt he didn't deserve to be in her home anymore. His arrogance and stupidity cost the life of the man she loved, the man he loved like a father, and she didn't even know. He couldn't even look her in the eyes anymore.

Peter had been staring at the hands in his lap for the last half hour, his head drifting down from the view of the sunset along with his dismal train of thoughts. He rubbed his fingers over the raised patch of pale skin on the underside of his wrists. Peter hadn't dared use any of his abilities, save for a little of his strength and agility when fixing the house, since his Uncle died. To ashamed to even admit to himself what he was now. He raised his head, not wanting to look at the offensive patches, and returned his gaze to the horizon and the various farmhouses, silos, barns, and other buildings sparsely planted across the landscape that was visible from his aunt's roof. Having grown up in New York City, it was not often that Peter could appreciate a scene like this in person. He scanned his eyes across the field, attempting to soak in as much of the panorama as possible, and his gaze landed on something shiny that he hadn't noticed before. There was a black car parked across the road that ran in front of his aunt's house. The car was parked behind a small hedge growing beside a large tree that had blocked half of it from Peter's viewpoint. It's position made it very well concealed, the only reason Peter was able to notice it now was because the sun was now in a position where its light was directly bounce off the car's paintwork and towards Peter. The field that it was parked in had no house or any other building on it for at least a quarter mile. It was not an abandoned wreck, it appeared to be nearly new. Peter leaned forward in an attempt to gain a better view and wondered why anyone would plant a car like that in the middle of nowhere. After a few seconds of scrutinizing the odd vehicle his aunt began yelling for him once again to come back inside. Suddenly remembering how much time had passed, he dismissed the thought and jumped down off the roof with a gymnast style finesse and finally returned inside his aunt's home, the last few seconds of his life gone from his mind.

Out of the sight of anyone, briefly the after the teenager had gone back inside, a shiny black sedan pulled out of a field opposite the home of May Parker and went on its way down a quiet country road.

----- -----

"Oh, there are the bathrooms that don't have that smell of old cabbage. I suggest you use those." Peter gave a look that was half amused, half disturbed by Chloe's commentary. But, in the few minutes he had known her, the girl seemed nice enough, obviously with her own unique sense of humor. Being completely new to this school, he was willing to take any sign of compassion that came his way. 

"Thanks for the warning." Peter observed his guide as they moved through the unfamiliar red and yellow halls. He had met her in the office when he was being 'welcomed' to the school by the principal, who had kindly volunteered her while she was there to give him a tour. She had been nice enough to comply, but seemed as if she had something else on her mind.

"So where was your last school uh..." The girl seemed stuck on something.

"Peter."

"Peter, yeah. Sorry I don't know where my brain is sometimes."

Peter hesitated a moment, judging whether or not he should open up about his personal history to a total stranger. Deciding it was safe enough, he decided to proceed. "I grew up in New York, my last school was in Queens."

That seemed to pick up her attention, "So... city boy eh. That's cool. Me and my Dad moved here from Metropolis when I was thirteen. It was a bit difficult for me to get used a country bumpkin town like this, but I've grown to like it. It might take you a little while longer, this place is a lot different from New York."

"Yeah, I know." Peter felt a little more comfortable knowing the girl could sympathize a little with him. "Thanks for showing me around, sorry the principal drafted you like that."

"That's okay, I'm trying to get on the old guy's good side anyway. I was in there to report the computers for the school newspaper have all decided to crash for some reason. I figured if I kiss up real bad he might be nice enough to replace them with something made before the Bay of Pigs. Either that or get someone to repair them so I can retrieve some of my stuff off of them."

"What exactly went wrong with them?" Peter inquired, hoping in a small way to establish a rapport with the girl.

"Oh, I dunno exactly. They were working fine one day and then suddenly a bunch of error messages and evil blue screens come up."

"You know at my last school I used to help maintain the computer lab. I can't promise anything, but I can take a look at it if you want." Peter was slightly anxious about being this assertive in a completely new social environment, but with everything else he had to worry about, it would be nice to have a problem to distract him.

The blond girl stopped mid-stride and turned to face him, looking slightly more pleased than she had been a few minutes ago. "Seriously? What luck. I was looking for tech head. When do you have a free period?"

"Uhm..." Peter paused suddenly realizing he had only got his schedule ten minutes ago and hadn't bothered to look at it yet. He pulled his worn old back pack off from his shoulders so he could find his timetable only to have the school bell to start ringing down the hall.

"Don't worry. Just come by whenever, someone usually there, and I'm there whenever I'm not in class. In the meantime, I gotta go. Try to enjoy your first day. You probably won't, but it can't hurt to try." With a smile the girl turned and scampered down the hall of bustling teenagers. It was a few seconds before Peter remembered he should be one of them and restarted the search for his schedule. His first class was English in room B1:04. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't remember that particular location being on the tour.

----- -----

Peter's morning had not been a good one. Because of the unfamiliar territory he had been late to most of his classes, which had made a great first impression on his teachers, and because he had arrived three weeks after term began, most of the classes had already settled in to their own procedures and organization that didn't respond well to a new student dropping in. Because this was a relatively small town, there weren't many transfers or new students popping in half way through. Although the next class was the last before lunch and the idea of having a break gave him some glimmer of hope. He had been going through today by telling himself 'just get through this and it will be one less class', so far it had worked... to a point. Biology was up next. He was pretty good the science subjects at his last school, so with any luck this class might go by smoothly... if he could find the classroom. 

Unfortunately, by the time he had found it, the class had already started. Which gave him another reason not to go in, but he didn't need Aunt May worrying about truancy on top of everything else. Preparing himself for another bad first impression he grabbed hold of the doorknob and stepped forward into another room of scrutinizing eyes.

"So try to see if you can recognize as much of the cellular structure as possible... oh can I help you?" A middle-aged man with thick glasses and an incredibly bad taste in ties stopped in mid-lecture and addressed Peter curtly, obviously annoyed at being interrupted.

Peter stood nervously, already regretting his decision to come in and trying to avoid the gaze of his classmates. "Uh... I'm Peter Parker. I'm your new student"

"Oh yes..." the teacher turned away from Peter and looked towards some papers on his desk, probably to check the class register. "Parker was it? A little late aren't we?"

Peter really hated it when teachers asked questions they already knew the answers to just to make there students look stupid, and it didn't do much for his nerves. "Yeah I'm sorry about that... I had some trouble finding the place."

His teacher didn't seem to be sympathetic and simply turned his attention to more papers on his desk, "Alright, well let's see...ah... Mr Kent," The teacher focused his gaze forward to a desk near the back of the room that was solely inhabited by a dark haired boy in a red shirt that appeared older than he probably was, "You seem to be lacking a lab partner, why don't pair up with Mr Parker?"

"Sure." From the look on the guy's face he seemed to be almost as lost as Peter. It made Peter wonder what he had to worry about. Peter also wondered why he would be sitting by himself, he was attractive, that much was obvious.

"Good. Why don't you take a seat Mr Parker. Perhaps you and Mr Kent can share notes on punctuality." Doing his best to ignore that remark, Peter plastered on a polite smile and proceeded to his new partner's table as his teacher continued with his lecture. Peter gave a polite smile to the other boy as he sat down, he responded by holding out his hand to properly introduce himself.

"Sorry about Mr Lynch, he's a bit of an ass. I'm Clark by the way."

"Peter." Peter returned Clark's handshake and smile. He was a little intimidated by him; he was a much bigger physical presence than himself. It was a bit difficult to tell how tall he was sitting down, but he had a much larger frame than Peter, possibly that of a football player. That was most likely what made Peter intimidated, most of the jock types like him he had had experience with were not what you would call pleasant. The words 'Puny Parker' came to mind. However, at first glance, he didn't appear to be the jock type. Few teenage boys would take the time to shake your hand to introduce themselves. Peter decided to take the safe road and simply busy himself with his books while trying to take note of the lecture.

Once he had finished giving out instructions, Mr Lynch went into the storeroom behind his desk to retrieve the equipment necessary for the research project he had just given the class. His brief absence gave his students the opportunity to talk amongst themselves.

"I hope you know something about this stuff. Microbiology isn't exactly my strong point." Clark inquired as he turned in his chair toward Peter's direction. The smaller boy kept his chair facing the front as if he did not want to violate anymore space than he had to.

Despite his timorous posture, he turned his head toward Clark to return the conversation, "Well, I think know my way around a cytoplasm." Peter said with a smile, trying to break the ice with a bit of humor.

Clark smiled, glad that there would at least be someone who understood the work. "Thats good to hear. I have to admit, my brain wasn't really built for biology." Peter returned his smile as the teacher returned with their equipment.

The two boys became more comfortable as they worked together. Because the subject matter was fairly universal Peter was able to ease himself into the flow of the class with a great deal more pleasantly than his previous classes in the morning. "So... what are those little green things on the sides?" Clark asked as he peered through the eyepieces of the microscope in front of him.

Clark moved his head to give Peter access to what he was looking at, "Those are the chloroplasts." Peter answered before moving his head back to face his lab partner.

"And that's where photosynthesis takes place, right?" Clark asked tentatively, not wanting to sound like an idiot if he was wrong.

"Yeah."

"Good. I think I might actually be getting better at this." Clark responded with a subtle sense of relief before turning to record his observations in his workbook.

Peter now felt much easier than he had for a while. For some reason, Clark's insecurity had made him feel a little more comfortable in a completely alien environment. His personality was not what Peter had expected, he was a lot more restrained, almost shy, than most teenage boys of his stature. 'I guess he has his own problems', Peter began to think. But there was another reason he was feeling more comfortable with him, a reason which was also beginning to make him more nervous, a reason he didn't want to acknowledge.

"You're pretty good at this stuff. Did you study a lot of science at your last school?" The darker haired boy inquired, trying to open up a dialog with the newcomer.

"Yeah, I guess you could say I was a bit of a nerd." Peter admitted, half joking, the other half trying to test Clark's reaction.

"Meh, 'nerd' just a word used to describe those who aren't completely screwing up their work." Peter felt better at his response; a jock would have used it as an opportunity to debase him. "Where was your last school anyway?" Clark asked.

"New York, Queens actually. I grew up there."

"Wow. Your a long way from home. What brought you all the way to Kansas?" Clark

Peter lowered his gaze and paused for a moment while he thought of a strategic way to answer his question, "My aunt just needed a change I guess. I've lived with her and my Uncle since I was five. Her family had a house around here that she lived in when she was younger, so she decided to come back here."

Clark nodded his head. His answer was deliberately evasive – something he was familiar with – but he didn't push further. There was something in his eyes that made it obvious that there was more to it than that, but his observations were interrupted by lunch bell ringing throughout the halls outside.

"Okay ladies and gentlemen, I want to see prac reports written up for the observations you've made today by the next class... and don't forget we have a test in two weeks time..." Mr Lynch began bellowing to the students who were already making their exodus to the long awaited lunch hour. Peter noticed that for the first time today he was not rushing out as fast as he could get to the door.

Clark didn't seem to share his classmates' desire to see the outside of the classroom as quickly as possible and lagged behind with Peter. "Do you know the way to the cafeteria?"

Peter looked up from packing his bag, surprised to see him waiting around with him and noticed for the first time how much taller Clark was, having at least seven inches on him. "Um... I think so..."

"Don't worry, I'll show you the way. When you're finished eating I can show you around a little more if you want." Clark offered as they made their way out of the classroom.

Peter was genuinely grateful by Clark's offer and was about to take it before he remembered his conversation with the girl Chloe earlier that morning. "Thanks, but I actually promised one of the girls from the school newspaper this morning that I'd try to fix their computers, and lunch is my only free time today."

His explanation seemed to arouse something in Clark, judging by his raised eyebrow. "Chloe?"

"Yeah, you know her?"

"Kinda yeah," Clark answered as he began to lead the way to the cafeteria, trying to avoid the conversation drifting in that direction. He had only just met Peter, it was nice to be able to converse with someone who had no idea of your history. It was a rare opportunity in this town, and he didn't want to get into uncomfortable details, especially considering what has happened in the last few months. He decided to take the strategic way out, "I used to write some stuff for the paper. How did she manage to recruit you on your first day?" Clark asked, turning the questioning back to Peter.

"She was my tour guide from the principal." Peter answered while keeping up with Clark's heavy stride.

"Lucky you." Clark said with a snicker that seemed a little half-hearted. Peter wondered about Clark's attitude towards the blond girl, and thought that she was most likely an ex-girlfriend. The thought discomfited Peter slightly as they made their way through the cafeteria doors.

By the time they had finished lunch both Peter's and Clark's mood seemed to have lifted. Clark had spent most of the time explaining the school's complex social system to Peter while casually making fun of it at the same time. It was the first time in while for both of the boys where they had been able to have a friendly conversation with anyone. Somehow each of them being complete strangers made it easier to allow themselves to forget the drama of the previous weeks. However, Peter's comfort around Clark led to another problem. Maybe it was the fact that being around Clark made him forget his problems for a moment, or maybe it was simply a reaction to an unfamiliar show of affection, but whatever the reason he was feeling far to drawn toward the other boy. But that kind of thinking was not an option for Peter, especially now.

Once they had finished their meal Clark walked with Peter to show him the location of the Torch office. Clark had been trying to avoid this area of school whenever possible as of late except for that time he risked coming back a few days ago. Unfortunately, as he feared, that led to an unwanted conversation. He hoped that with Peter there as a third party the risk of that happening again would be reduced. "Here we are, the headquarters of the Smallville High Torch." Clark announced as they approached the doorway. Chloe was already there going through some work when they arrived. The arrival of them both together produced a look of surprise on her face.

"Peter, good to see you. I see you've already been making contacts."

Clark decided to spare Peter the burden of explaining, "We were in Bio together... he's a lot better at it than I am."

Chloe nodded in acknowledgment and there was an awkward pause for a moment. Peter detected a vibe between the two of them, some kind of unresolved business that made the situation very uncomfortable. Trying to break the silence Peter turned the conversation to business. "So which one the machine that your having trouble with?" He asked swapping glances between the different computers in the room.

Chloe refocused her attention, "All of them actually. I thought it was just mine but when I went to work on the others they weren't working either."

"Well why don't I start with yours, which one is it?"

"This one." Chloe gestured to the machine in front of her, "I can understand how one piece of crap can breakdown, but three at once is just a little suspicious."

Peter sat himself in front of the device and started it up, "You think somebody might have tampered with them?"

Chloe watched as Peter inputted some miscellaneous commands which displayed even more confusing data on the screen. "Nothing would surprise me at this point." Chloe turned her attention back towards Clark, "What do you think Clark?" Trying to open up a dialog with her old friend that she had been missing over the last few months.

"I don't know. Have you made any enemies lately?" Clark asked very submissively.

"Not any more than usual."

Peter continued to work while watching the two interact with a curious interest. Clark was standing an unusual distance from Chloe, as if he was almost afraid of her. Peter found it odd that a boy of Clark's size would be so timid. Peter's attention was redirected when he began to find some odd results on the computer screen.

"Something for the wall of weird I guess." Clark remarked.

"Wall of weird?" Peter asked as he typed.

"Chloe's listing of Smallville's mysteries."

"How many could there be in a town like this?"

"You'd be surprised. Take a look." Clark pointed toward the wall beside Peter.

The cuttings of newspaper articles and photos of strange happenings definitely piqued Peter's interest. Crop circles... meteors... this was odd, even by Peter's standards. "Interesting..." His gaze was brought back to the computer once more results from the search he had run came up. "Huh, this is... huh," Peter commented as he continued to investigate the anomaly he just discovered.

"What is it?" Chloe looked over his shoulder to observe what had caught his attention.

"Um..." Peter continued to run commands into the machine in front of him, seemingly caught up in some kind of problem. "...Do you by any chance have some enemies?"

That produced a concerned look on the blond reporters face, "Why do say that?"

"Uh... I think you've been attacked."

"Attacked?" Chloe's voice raised an octave.

"Someone uploaded a virus that corrupted all of your system files. It seems to have... wait a minute." The look on Peter's face turned curious as he continued to type, "There's a hole on your hard drive."

"There's a what now?"

"All of the damage to your computer seems to be just a corruption of the system caused by a virus, but there is a chunk of data that seems to have been purged from the hard drive. From what I can tell the purged data doesn't seem to be part of a vital program; it was filed under 'Mutant suspect database'" That word appearing on the screen in front of him caused Peter's blood pressure to rise suddenly. His statement got a worried look from Chloe and what looked like an angry look from Clark. Peter wondered what the meaning behind Clark's reaction was but decided to play it safe and continue with his work. "The date and time that the system files were modified is after the date and time that the data was purged. If I were to take a guess, I'd say someone wanted to get rid of whatever those files were and then uploaded a virus in order to cover it up." Chloe made no comment in response, her mind running through the possibilities. "The date says that it occurred on Monday night at 11:03pm. Was there anyone who had access to the computers then?"

Chloe took a moment to respond, "I don't know... maybe. There are a few people apart from me who have keys to this room."

Over the next few minutes Peter began working on salvaging all of the files from Chloe's computer he could manage, transferring what he could onto portable memory. While he was working Clark had moved behind him so he was within view of the screen. There had been a look of concern, almost fear, on his face since Peter had explained the problem with Chloe's computer. In the time he had been in the office Clark had not participated in any interaction or conversation, he seemed caught between his apprehension towards Chloe and his concern over the apparent invasion of her workspace. Peter figured he must have been concerned for her safety.

Peter stood up to leave once he had finished his work, "I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful."

Chloe smiled despite being very concerned about what had been discovered, "That's okay, I really do appreciate your help Peter... you know I never did catch your last name."

"Parker."

"Parker..." Chloe repeated with a smile, "Well thank you again Mr Parker."

Peter returned the smile a little uncomfortably, "I'd better go. I still haven't found the room for my next class."

Clark leaped on the opportunity to gracefully exit. "I'll go with you... make sure you find the place."

As the two boys made their way out Chloe realized that she may not get the opportunity to talk to the friend she had seen so little of in the last few weeks any time soon. She did not want to waste the moment on business talk before Clark went back into hiding. "It was really good to see you again Clark, you should come by more often."

Clark turned to face her with a half-hearted smile, "Yeah, maybe... Bye Chlo."

Chloe let out a sigh and watched as once again as her old friend disappeared out of view, a part of her wondering if things would ever be the same between them again.

----- -----

Clark let out a tired breath as he exited the school building. The day hadn't been that bad, apart from an awkward encounter with Chloe. Something had disturbed him when he about that 'mutant suspect list'. Chloe had always been investigating the various mutant incidents since they had started occurring. Unfortunately for him, she could never leave a mystery alone. Her recent involvement with Lionel Luthor gave him even more to worry about. A part of him wanted to believe that she was his friend above everything else, but these days he didn't know what to believe. The scariest thought wasn't that she had a list of 'suspicious' individuals, it was that someone else may have seen it, and was interested enough in it to destroy it and try to cover it up. Chloe would definitely be launching her own investigation on who could have deleted it. Four months ago it would have been much easier to involve himself in her investigations, but now he was not how to proceed. He couldn't just continue avoiding her and hope for the best. 

On his way out he noticed Peter standing beside the road in front of the entrance to the school. The poor guy seemed very lost amongst the swarms of escaping teenagers. In the short while he had gotten to know Peter, he had gotten to like him. It was liberating to be able to talk to someone without having some guilt ridden memory or emotional baggage come up. It wasn't until he actually had a pleasant conversation with another person that he realized just how alone he had been these last few weeks. There was something about Peter, in the look in his eyes and the tone in his voice, that gave him the impression he knew what that felt like. Clark went over to see what was bothering him, "Peter! You okay? You look a little lost."

Peter turned toward the origin of the voice and greeted Clark with a smile and a genuine look of relief. "Yeah I guess you could say that. I was supposed to catch the bus back home but there doesn't seem to be any sign of it."

Clark donned a look that told Peter he was just about to get some very bad news. "Yeah, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but in the afternoon the bus picks up people from the west side of the school and..." Clark looked at his watch, "...it usually has left by now. Sorry."

Peter gave out a half-hearted laugh, "Perfect. I'm having a good day."

Clark gave Peter big smile, trying to cheer him up, surprisingly it was returned. "Come on, I'll give you a ride home." Clark gestured towards his truck.

"You don't have to do that." Peter said trailing behind the taller boy.

Clark let out a small laugh, "I think you could use a break, don't you?"

Peter returned the laugh and held a smile on his face for longer than he was used to, "Thank you."

Clark just smiled with warm acknowledgment and walked to his truck with his new friend in tow, getting the details of Peter's address on the way through the parking lot. Climbing into the truck there was a sudden feeling that rushed through Peter, something he couldn't quite describe. The idea of being in such proximity to the other boy made him very nervous. He decided to try and rule out the possibilities by inquiring about his relationship with Chloe. You would have to be blind and deaf not to notice something going on unspoken between them.

"So apart from getting lost a few times and missing the bus, did you enjoy your first day?" Clark asked with a small snicker while he navigated onto the road.

"Well it wasn't all bad..." Peter took the opening, "I'm sorry I couldn't help Chloe with her computers. It's weird what happened to them."

The light dropped out of Clark's face for a moment, "Yeah."

"So how do you know her anyway?" Peter asked, a part of him dreaded the expected answer.

Clark turned his gaze toward Peter for a moment before returning it to the road, distracted by his unexpected inquiry. "Chloe? Oh we're old friends."

Peter decided he may as well dive straight in, "Girlfriend?" he asked in his best nonchalant tone.

Clark brought out a half-hearted smile, "Oh no, no. Well there was a brief period during freshmen year when we were kind-of dating but we were better as friends."

Clark decided to change the subject, "Did you have a girlfriend in New York?" For some reason Clark found himself concerned with the answer.

"Me?" Peter became slightly tense when Clark asked that question. "No, no. You gotta girlfriend?"

"No, not anymore." Clark's voice lost some of it's resonance.

"Bad break up?" Peter asked with sympathy, worried that he may have brought up a sore topic.

"Uh... kind of... it was my fault though."

"Why do you say that?" Peter asked with genuine perplexity. Clark didn't seem anything like the bad boyfriend type.

Clark was once again finding it surprisingly easy to talk to Peter. Despite being practically strangers, he felt as if he could open up to him, more freely than people he had known his whole life. Peter had a manner about him that made him stand out compared to other boys his age. There was a kind of maturity behind his eyes that Clark had noticed before, the sign of growing up too quickly. Clark put out a small sigh, "Well long story short: I did something really, really stupid and then ran away thinking I could just hide from it, leaving my parents, my friends, and girlfriend behind. But you can't run forever, so now I'm back."

Peter stared at the other boy for a while as a short silence came between the to of them. Hearing Clark's story, a realization came over Peter and his sympathy became empathy. "But your not really back with them, you just happen to be living there... and no matter what you do, you still feel like you don't deserve to be there."

Clark's gaze was drawn back to Peter and their eyes met for a while, each recognizing something about the other, and, for a moment, feeling less alone. Clark drew his gaze back to the country road for a moment before turning back to Peter with a question on his face, unsure of whether or not to probe for an answer.

Peter provided it for him, "I've been in a similar situation... not exactly but..." Peter decided to drop the sentence before he gave away too much.

Clark lowered his gaze to his hands, "It feels like something's gone, something I knew. Like the world is a different place than it was before and your a stranger in it, and all you have is a memory of what was before."

Peter stared out in front of him, "And even the memories hurt, cause' you know its never going to be like that again." Peter suddenly turned his head toward Clark to find him looking back at him and decided to avert his gaze, "Sorry I..."

"No, it's okay." Clark finished for him. "It's nice to able to talk to someone."

Another awkward silence was left in the truck as the two boys traveled down the dusky farm country. Clark decided to take the initiative, "Do have any free periods tomorrow?"

Peter was a little confused by the sudden query, "Um... yeah, I think one after lunch. Why?"

A small smile returned to Clark's face, "Good, I've got one then to. I was just wondering if you could help me with bio. I really am bad at it." Clark let out a rare laugh and Peter felt himself begin to smile with him.

"Yeah sure, sounds great." Peter suddenly felt a little disappointed that his house was appearing in view. "Oh, this is me." Peter pointed towards the old beige house.

Clark drove the truck up the Parker's drive way and brought it to a halt, suddenly realizing that Peter was leaving. "You know this isn't too far from my place. I have to go through this area to get to school anyway. You could carpool with me, it would save you missing the bus again."

Peter stopped in his movements to get out of the truck, truly surprised with Clark's generosity. Pausing for a moment he was unsure how to respond, "Yeah... that would be great. Thanks."

Clark beamed in response, "Sure. Say about a quarter to nine, is that okay?"

Peter smiled back incredulously, "Yeah, that's fine."

"Great. I'll see you then."

Peter got out of the truck and smiled as he waved to Clark backing out of the drive way. For the first time, entering his new house with a smile on his face

----- -----

"_In the part of the book that is my memory before which little can be read, on the page that is the day when I met you, there is a heading which says: 'Here begins, a new life'"_

_La Vita Nuova_

----- -----

To be continued...


End file.
